The New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. FRIDAY, OCT. 21, 1870.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VII, Issue 2103, 21 October 1870, Page 2

The New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. FRIDAY, OCT. 21, 1870.

Oxe of the most interesting thine;: that have already evolved from tin European complications is the preseiv state of the Italian question. Then has been, at all times, an interest^ at taehing to Italy, from the historica associations ofßome, and the influence which that city had in giving laws ani institutions to Europe. People lookec on Italy as on an old ruin, beautil'u. in its desolation : and every aspiratioi: for liberty was accepted as the movement of "the old spirit that made the forefathers of the modern Italian; the rulers of the world. And though degeneracy appeared in the lawless ness of bandits and the treachery ol the general Italian character, it war naturally attributed to the iron yoke of bondage under which that lovely country had so long groaned. Mei: could not believe that the blood of the Ciceros and Cresars was wholly corrupt, or that the fire of nationality that inspired a Brutus could be entirely extinguished. It was this general feeling regarding a country, called in the language of its poet, " Di dolor' | ,; ostello"—the " mansion of pain" — that condoned the excesses of the Carbonari, and surrounded the head o: Garibaldi with a halo of glory perhaps unequalled in the case of any othei hero in a war of deliverance. Thai Italy should heal its divisions and expe the "foreigner lias been the aspiratioi of every true Italian for ages past, anc friends'of liberty abroad have sincerely bid God-speed to every movement o national life. The steady advance o the power of the House of Savoy has been watched with deepening interest as province after province attache*, itself to the kingdom of Italy and the guerilla movements of Garibaldi's free lances, which, in defiance alike of diplomacy and the ordinary habits of warfare, were foiving gifts ol territorv on the King, and etfectinc the autonomy of the Peninsula, appeared the revival of a chivalry thai had long passed away. And when thf late Emperor of the French pourec his ]t";io::s into Northern Italy anc wrested Venice and Lombard}" Iron the foreign power that held them, the cloud of suspicions that hung aroum the " man of mystery " were tempo rarily dispersed, and lie became evei popular for his generous aid to Italy. Hut though Napoleon had un doubted sympathy with Italian inde pendenee, and showed it by becoming a member of the secret society 01 liberators when his influence was bul that of a single arm, and when tin balance of European power couL hardly have entered into his motives we have reason to believe thai the complete establishment of the Italian nation, and especially' ii its present form, did not enter inte his calculations. His idea plainly was that the Italian provinces should form a confederation like the ole German " Bund," of which Victoi Kmanuel should bo the head ; and not, more disappointed was he in hit diplomacy' with Count Von "Bismarck than in his intended arrangementt with the Count Cavour. To have an Italian Confederation allied to France by ties of gratitude and friendship : to trive the Italian people .all the. liberty > they r could desire, but not the consolidated power that could ever wound France —and, least of all. to perfect that consolidation by having the Italian King enthroned in the city of the Caesars—such was the design of Louis Napoleon. In all this he has been overreached by the policy of the Bismarck of Italy. Count Cavour — whose fame does not rival that of the German diplomatist only because ho had not the same kind of difficulties to encounter, and because the realisation of his ideas of a united Italy was not such a menace to his neighbours as was *the§ consolidationjjof Germany— had all the ardent longing of the Italian people to see his country free from the foot of the foreign occupant. His policy of seeming reluctance to annexation, and seeming disapproval oftheirregular movements of Garibaldi, were evidently adopted to throw dust in the eyes of his Imperial ally, without whose moral aid the southern provinces could never have been accepted, and ! without whose material aid the nor- : them provinces could never have been conquered. The cession of the proi vinces bordering on France was as ! painful to Cavour as would have been ! the surrender of the Shine provinces | to the mind of Bismarck, but the ces--1 sion was compelled by the exigencies j of the case, and was made for the greater good of Italy, which could never have been effected without the aid of France. The occupation of Home was a salve to the wounded feelings of the Emperor, for the disappointment in the consolidation of the Italian Kingdom, and an acknowledgment from Italy of the power of France. Cavour has not lived to see the realisation of his dreams, but there cannot be a doubt that he was the embodiment of the spirit of Italian

nationality as completely as was Bis- j marck of that of Germany. For want | of power he was obliged to proceed more cautiously, and what was wanting in strength, to carry out his de- I signs was made up in diplomacy. TtTily has waited, and her aspirations are realised. The patience manifested in avoiding the complications that j would have arisen from an armed oe- , cupation of librae,hasshown the Italian people to be deserving of nationality, and all who wish well to liberty must rejoice at the bloodless victory which the policy of the great Italian diplomatist has achieved. His foresight told him that Italy's hour would eoine. The complications of Europe have compelled tiie withdrawal of the French troops from Home. The occupation by the soldiers of Victor Emanuel " resulted as a natural sequence ; in I'i'Ot, the movement had been requested, in the interests of law and order, by the leading cardinals of Koine. A pUbiscUnm will formally determine what lias long since been decided in the hearts of the Eoman cit'zens, and ere this, without the shedding of a drop of blood, the policy of Cavotir has triumphed, and the power of the '* people's King" is acknowledged through the length and ; breadth of the peninsula. The victories of WeissenbouriT, of Woorth, of Sedan, the mortal combat under the walls of Paris, may possess a more absorbing interest, 'but in the assured liberly"of Italy, the completion of the national unity, and the consolidation of power under the wise and liberal Victor Emanuel, there has been already written the most interesting chapter of the whole history of the war.